Tag Archives: PFDs

How many U.S. congressional representatives have invested recently in JPMorgan Chase? How many House members hold stock in Apple? And just how rich are your senators? The public got at least a glimpse at some of these answers this morning.

Republicans and Democrats rushed this week to argue that stronger government regulation would or wouldn’t have forestalled JPMorgan Chase’s multibillion dollar losses. But they didn’t mention whether they owned shares in the bank themselves. At least 38 of them do.

The STOCK Act, now awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature, does more than prohibit members of Congress from trading on private information gained in the course of their official duties. Last Thursday, the Senate passed a House version of the bill, which makes it clear that lawmakers must comply with the federal ban on insider trading that applies to just about everyone else. But several huge improvements to the transparency of personal financial disclosure statements were also included in the bill, updating the 1978 Ethics in Government Act.

The 1978 Ethics in Government Act requires presidential candidates to file personal financial disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission. And the Center for Responsive Politics is making it even easier for citizens and journalists to dig into these documents.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.) has become the latest incumbent member of the U.S. House of Representatives to set his sights on the exit. This weekend, Gallegly announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term rather than seek reelection in a district that would pit him against House Armed Services Committee Chair Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.).

Their politics may differ, but both the Tea Party and the Occupy movement have claimed to represent the interests of the middle class. Neither the members of the House Tea Party Caucus nor those of the House Progressive Caucus, whose views most closely align with the Occupy Wall Street movement, are close to being middle class, but Tea Party Caucus is especially wealthy, according to the Center’s research.

In the contentious battle for control of the majority in Congress, one of the most important battlegrounds for this upcoming election is party fund-raising. The Democratic and Republican parties raise millions of dollars from individuals and political action committees through their affiliated groups, some of which are specifically designed to aid Senate and House candidates.

Because of a data entry error on the part of the Center, as well as confusion stemming from unclear footnotes on the financial disclosure form of Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Kohl was originally listed in our annual study of congressional wealth, which was published Tuesday, as the poorest member of Congress. We regret this error, but a ludicrous system makes the potential for such errors all too likely.

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